Comes now Abet University, Miami

They have promoted themselves on the a.e.d. news group. Unaccredited on-line MBAs. Claim to have been hot stuff in Brasil for decades, now moved to Miami. The all-too-familiar blather about how accreditation is unnecessary and expensive and besides there are famous US universities that are unaccredited. (I've Emailed to ask which.)
(http://mba-open-university.net)

(Hmmm. I make it Eiaacfss University. Perhaps the acronym is different in Portuguese, however.)

Last edited by John Bear; 11-05-2002 at 02:51 PM.

Author/co-author:15 editions of Bears Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning,
Degree Mills: the billion-dollar industry that has sold more than a million fake diplomas, How to Repair Food, 30+ more.
www.johnbear.info

Re: Comes now Abet University, Miami

Originally posted by John Bear "Abet represent to encourage, incite, aid, assist, countenance, foment, support, sustain, and the inverse of deter, disapprove, frustrate, forbid. This is our University."

As in "aid and abet", I guess.

"Abet represent to encourage"? I wonder why they didn't take the time to get a native English speaker to write their promotional materials for them. Or for *him*, since the writing makes me think that it's one man's work. The website is so bad that it's almost funny.

If it offered engineering degrees, it probably would have a lawsuit on its hands from the legitimate ABET. Perhaps it might anyway.

And given that Florida has a state licensing procedure that is actually enforced (as MIGS found out), I wonder if this thing is even operating legally in FL. My guess is that it doesn't have any state approval.

Engineering Degrees

Engineering Degrees

Engineers apply the principles of science and mathematics to develop economical solutions to technical problems. Their work is the link between scientific discoveries and the commercial applications that meet societal and consumer needs.
Many engineers develop new products. During the process, they consider several factors. For example, in developing an industrial robot, engineers specify the functional requirements precisely; design and test the robot's components; integrate the components to produce the final design; and evaluate the design's overall effectiveness, cost, reliability, and safety.
In addition to their involvement in design and development, many engineers work in testing, production, or maintenance. These engineers supervise production in factories, determine the causes of a component’s failure, and test manufactured products to maintain quality. They also estimate the time and cost required to complete projects.

•Starting salaries are among the highest of all college graduates.
•Employment is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations, although growth will vary by specialty; overall job opportunities for engineers are expected to be good.
•A bachelor's degree in engineering is required for most entry-level jobs, but some positions may require a graduate degree.

Re: Comes now Abet University, Miami

The full name is Abet Open University of Miami, and according to my conversation with Florida officials a few days ago, they do not have permission to operate in the State of Florida. In fact, although they claim to be a nonprofit corporation, no corroborating records exist with the Florida Department of State. Moreover, Abet Open University of Miami isn't actually located in Miami. It is located about 300 miles away in Jacksonville.

The name Abet is not a just coincidence, considering that they claim to have trained engineers in Brasil for 27 years as JCMelo Consultoria Técnica, and later JCMelo Open University, and are currently marketing themselves to IT professionals (offering an MBA with a Chief Information Officer specialization that can be completed in 4 months). Interestingly, I have not been able to locate any information about either organization in Brasil. They appear, however, to be marketing themselves quite aggressively, as I have located about a dozen mirror sites of Abet Open University of Miami hosted on free servers.

Engineers apply the principles of science and mathematics to develop economical solutions to technical problems. Their work is the link between scientific discoveries and the commercial applications that meet societal and consumer needs.
Many engineers develop new products. During the process, they consider several factors. For example, in developing an industrial robot, engineers specify the functional requirements precisely; design and test the robot's components; integrate the components to produce the final design; and evaluate the design's overall effectiveness, cost, reliability, and safety.
In addition to their involvement in design and development, many engineers work in testing, production, or maintenance. These engineers supervise production in factories, determine the causes of a component’s failure, and test manufactured products to maintain quality. They also estimate the time and cost required to complete projects.

•Starting salaries are among the highest of all college graduates.
•Employment is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations, although growth will vary by specialty; overall job opportunities for engineers are expected to be good.
•A bachelor's degree in engineering is required for most entry-level jobs, but some positions may require a graduate degree.

Florida and Unaccredited Degrees

I seem to recall reading somewhere, perhaps in John Bear's book, that Florida had very strict laws regarding unaccredited degrees. I believe you could not even claim an unaccredited degree for doing business in the State. That said, how does this new "school" locate itself in Florida?

First of all, don't considere only the United States, please think in 229 countries and perhaps 100,000 or 200,000 universities (only in Brazil is more or less 5,000). We are an INTERNATIONAL virtual university, as you see in our site. Accreditation is an United States process only, to pay for a private organization to seal an university.

Second, Accreditation is a non sense project. The real "Accreditation" depends of the quality of the classes, the quality of the university, both qualified ONLY in the market through the graduated students. Our Accreditation is our past, we sell experience, knowledge, etc. Please examine our matters and the matters of similar MBAs from other universities. We sell knowledge for people that are interested in knowledge, not a Diploma with a seal. This is very clear in our site.

Third, I personally have more than 50 years of computer science experience (very famous in Brazil and in the World, several projects including for the United States government, 5,000 newspaper notices about my career, etc), and I don't accept to pay (to much...) to an U.S. "Accreditation" private company to say that my virtual university is good or not. It is 99.99% probably that the people that will examine my virtual university don't have even 1/1,000 of my experience.

Fourth, perhaps we will return our virtual university to Brazil, even 1/100 of our students are not from United States, perhaps because the "Accreditation" process that is natural in United States only. This is a clear society mistake, and I don't have time to try to change. Perhaps in more 30 or 50 years your society himself will change.

However, we are in process to change a little our site, and the mentioned phrase must be changed to "Accreditation is a voluntary United States process and we decided to avoid to pay to a private organization, etc...". Also, to exclude all references to Master Degree, to avoid misunderstanding in spite of the fact that in our site it is very clear that we don't asked for any "Accreditation", that is an OPEN (and virtual) university, etc; must be more clear, must be idiot proof, for example in our site is very clear but we receive e-mails asking if we have an "Accreditation"... Perhaps in more one or two weeks we will change. Thank you, very much, for your comments.

Sorry for the language, I write perfectly in Portuguese, Spanish and French, but not in English.

Best regard,
J.C.Melo

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 11/5/2002 at 3:36 PM John Bear wrote:

>You say: "However the University "Accreditation" process is voluntary,
>and even several regular and important Universities don't ask for."
>
>I write books on degrees and accreditation, and I don't know of any. Can
>you name even one?
>
>John Bear
>http://circledance.tripod.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bear To Abet:
Dear Mr. Melo

Thank you for your letter. I totally agree that it is important to be "idiot-proof" in things one says and writes. With this in mind, I have these few questions now, for you.

1. My understanding, from officials in Florida, is that you do not have permission to operate in the state of Florida. Can you comment.

2. You say Abet Open University of Miami is a non-profit corporation. The Florida Department of State seems to have no evidence of a non-profit corporation of this sort. Can you comment.

3. The school is called Abet Open University of Miami, but it appears to be operating from Jacksonville, 500 km away. Can you comment?

Information Technology (IT) has become an integral part of modern life. Among its most important functions are the efficient transmission of information and the storage and analysis of information. The workers described below all help individuals and organizations share and store information through computer networks and systems, the Internet, and computer databases.Network architects or network engineers are the designers of computer networks. Computer systems analysts use IT tools to help enterprises of all sizes achieve their goals. They may design and develop new computer systems by choosing and configuring hardware and software, or they may devise ways to apply existing systems' resources to additional tasks. Computer software engineers design and develop software. They apply the theories and principles of computer science and mathematical analysis to create, test, and evaluate the software applications and systems that make computers work.
IT Degrees also incorporates Web Development, Web Design, Computer Security, Programming, Technology Management, and Information Systems Management.

•Employment is projected to increase much faster than the average for all occupations. Job prospects are expected to be excellent.

Author/co-author:15 editions of Bears Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning,
Degree Mills: the billion-dollar industry that has sold more than a million fake diplomas, How to Repair Food, 30+ more.
www.johnbear.info

Sounds like a scam artist!

Sounds like a scam artist operation.

I'm sure that in Brazil there is greater ease for doing things under the table and in Kahootz with the government. That's probably why the country is in such dire straights... and constant stories of corruption and scandal.

I presume that this school now looks to scam innocent folks in Miami... mainly immigrants with little understanding of the accreditation process. There is also a large and growing constituency of Brazileiros here in Miami and in Orlando, FL. Hmmm... maybe the founder is moving to Miami and I wonder why? That would be interesting to check out.

The way this guy talks is a tip off by his arrogance and snubbing accrediting bodies. In other words... he disdains the law. Go figure.

Quote:
".... I personally have more than 50 years of computer science experience... It is 99.99% probably that the people that will examine my virtual university don't have even 1/1,000 of my experience...."

Only one person in ten thousand who looks at his web site has more than 2.6 weeks of computer science experience!!!

Computer Science IT Degrees

Computer Science & IT Degrees

Information Technology (IT) has become an integral part of modern life. Among its most important functions are the efficient transmission of information and the storage and analysis of information. The workers described below all help individuals and organizations share and store information through computer networks and systems, the Internet, and computer databases.Network architects or network engineers are the designers of computer networks. Computer systems analysts use IT tools to help enterprises of all sizes achieve their goals. They may design and develop new computer systems by choosing and configuring hardware and software, or they may devise ways to apply existing systems' resources to additional tasks. Computer software engineers design and develop software. They apply the theories and principles of computer science and mathematical analysis to create, test, and evaluate the software applications and systems that make computers work.
IT Degrees also incorporates Web Development, Web Design, Computer Security, Programming, Technology Management, and Information Systems Management.

•Employment is projected to increase much faster than the average for all occupations. Job prospects are expected to be excellent.

50 Years of Computer Science Experience..

Wow this fellow has been around for quite some time. I am sure he must have visited University of Pennsylvania some time back in the early 50's to pick up the straight dope on the latest CS thinking. He was probably a visiting professor in Pittsburgh at what was just known as the Carneige Institute of Technology as well.

I am impressed.. I bet I could buy a lot of knowledge from JCM. Now... where did I put my check book?????